How Easily
by gleefan13
Summary: Brittany's covered in bruises and no matter how many times she says she doesn't know where they came from, no one really seems to believe her.
1. Part 1

A/N: This fic is a fill that I'm in the process of writting for a prompt over at the glee angst meme.

**How Easily **

_How Easily I Bruise, How Easily You Assume_

They teach you not to lie but they don't teach you that telling the truth isn't always enough.

It's funny really, how easily things can get out of control.

xxxxxx

Santana is the first to ask. The bruise is on Brittany's right wrist and it's a shade of blue that contrasts sharply with her pale skin. They're standing in front of their lockers and she notices it as Brittany reaches up to close her locker door.

"Britt," she asks, "What did you do to your wrist?"

Brittany just looks at her clearly confused, "What?"

Santana takes Brittany's hand and gently taps on the bruise on her wrist. "Where did this bruise come from?"

Brittany looks down at the hand that Santana is holding, titling her head to the side, she scrunches up her brow in concentration. After a minute she finally shrugs, "I don't know."

Santana watches Brittany carefully, the bruise is rather large and it seems unlikely that she wouldn't know where it came from but, this is Brittany, and it seems more unlikely that she would lie to her about it. "Does it hurt?"

Brittany shrugs again, "no, not really."

"You're sure you don't know where you got it?" Santana asks again quietly, something about the bruise still bothering her despite her belief that Brittany wouldn't lie to her.

"Ya S, I'm sure," Brittany responds slowly, unsure of why the other girl is still asking her questions. She pulls her hand out of Santana's grasp and smiling, albeit somewhat uncertainly, she offers her her pinkie instead.

Santana can't help but smile back at Brittany, those damn eyes get her every time. She takes the offered pinkie and she lets the subject drop.

xxxxxx

Quinn is the second to ask. The bruise is just below Brittany's left elbow and it's so dark that for a second Quinn thinks that Brittany has drawn on herself with a sharpie again. They have a competition on Saturday and Coach Sylvester is going to be so mad if that doesn't come off. Quinn groans to herself thinking of the lecture she's going to get since apparently being head cheerleader also means it's her job to keep track of Brittany, even if Santana's way better at that than she is. It isn't until she reaches for

Brittany's arm with the vain hope that she might be able to wash it off that she realizes that it's actually a bruise, a rather nasty looking bruise.

"Oh Brittany," Quinn says quietly, almost apologetically, when the blonde looks up suddenly at the contact. "What happened to your arm?"

Brittany pulls her arm away from Quinn and bends it so that she can look at the bruise. She stares at it almost fascinated until Quinn questions again. "Brittany?"

Brittany's eyes meet Quinn's then and she looks uncertain. "Oh umm…I don't really know?"

Quinn watches Brittany, she's a dancer and perhaps the most graceful person that Quinn knows and so she's not exactly prone to random bruising. "You don't know where you got the bruise?" She finally asks sceptically.

Brittany nods her head. "I guess I can't remember."

Quinn sighs. Perhaps Brittany not remembering isn't so hard to believe. She lets it go.

xxxxxx

Artie asks next. Brittany's sitting cross legged on her bed and the way the hemline of her Cheerio's skirt has raised has revealed a purple bruise on her right thigh.

"Geez Brittany, that looks like it hurts. What happened?" He asks her reaching out and gently touching the bruise.

Brittany thinks a minute before deciding. "I don't know…practice maybe?"

"You didn't have practice today Brittany," Artie reminds her patiently, "and you didn't have that bruise yesterday so it's not from cheerleading. Where'd you get it?" The last question comes out a little more forceful than he intended.

Brittany just stares at him. She doesn't understand why everyone keeps bothering her about the bruises. She's trying her best to remember where they came from, honestly. "I can't remember," she finally tells him, since that seemed to work with both Santana and Quinn.

He looks at her unsure, he doesn't really want to let it drop but she looks something akin to hopeful and so he sighs. "Okay."

xxxxxx

Kurt is the first to ask and not let it go as easily. He happens across Brittany in the choir room, she's alone and twirling in seemingly aimless circles. He watches her a minute before he clears his throat.

"Kurt," she giggles as she wobbles slightly, dizzy from spinning.

"What are you doing Brittany?" He smiles at her, her grin infectious.

"Twirling," she informs him as if that should have been obvious.

He shakes his head ever so slightly, still smiling though. He should have known to be more specific. "Why?"

She's still looking at him like he should already know the answer, "because it's fun."

"Oh," he answers not really sure what else to say.

"Fun," she repeats, twirling slowly once more for emphasis.

It's as she twirls that he notices it, a yellowing bruise that disappears under her Cheerio's uniform towards her left shoulder blade. "Where'd you get the bruise on your back from?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me where I got a bruise from?" She replies, completing ignoring his question, though that seems unintentional to him, since her voice is reflecting nothing more than curiosity.

Kurt's lips purse at her statement. It bothers him that multiple people must have noticed bruises on her. "I don't know. You don't usually have bruises, I guess. Where'd you get it?" He repeats his original question.

"I don't remember," she says quickly, repeating the line that has worked thus far in making people stop asking questions. Answering questions she doesn't actually know the answers to is frustrating, it feels too much like school, and she'd really like it to stop.

Perhaps he's more suspicious because the only bruises he ever gets are from being pushed into lockers. Regardless of the reason, he doesn't let it drop and instead he asks. "Did someone hurt you?"

"Someone?" Brittany is clearly confused now. "Why would someone hurt me?"

Kurt sighs. "I don't know." It's true, he has no clue who would hurt her or why. "But if someone is hurting you, you don't have to lie about it, okay?"

"I don't lie. Lying is wrong." She says it in her standard monotone but she's frowning at him now.

He hates seeing her upset. Brittany frowning is far too unnatural, so he sighs. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry." When the frown doesn't disappear he tries again. "Want to show me how fun twirling is?"

That request gets a grin out of her and he grins back, letting the subject of where she's getting bruises from drop for the time being.

xxxxxx

Sam is the first ask without actually asking Brittany directly. He's in History with Santana, which comes right after the English class he shares with Brittany, when he decides to talk to her about it. He probably should have just asked Brittany directly, especially because, though they sit beside each other every day, Santana has a tendency to ignore him, but they'd had a test that day in English and he hadn't had the chance.

"So…uhh," he starts, ignoring the eyebrow that Santana raises at him, "I noticed that Brittany has a lot of bruises on her arms. Like a lot."

Santana just narrows her eyes at him, obviously waiting for him to continue.

"Is she uhh…" the stare intensifies and Sam shrinks back in his seat a bit, "is she okay?"

"What do you mean?" Santana asks quickly.

"Where are the bruises coming from?" He settles for asking instead of directly answering her questions because he's not exactly sure what he means, he's just concerned.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me?" Santana responds quickly again.

Sam sighs, he probably would have been better off just waiting to talk to Brittany. "You're just her best friend or whatever, I thought you'd know. I was just worried."

Santana's expression softens a bit before she speaks again. "She has new bruises again?" The worry slips out in her voice, even though she tries to conceal it.

Sam shrugs, "I guess, she didn't have most of them yesterday and she has them today…so, yes, they're new."

"Did she say anything?" Santana's staring at him intently again.

Sam shakes his head quickly, "no," he pauses a minute before deciding that he should tell her what he's thinking. "You don't think someone's hitting her do you?"

At first he can't read the expression that flashes across her face but it quickly settles into something recognizable, though, he's never seen anyone look quite as angry as she does in that moment. For a second he thinks that maybe she's going to attack him, instead, she tells him, "thanks for worrying about her," through gritted teeth and turns to the front, raising her hand.

"I'm not feeling well. Can I go to the nurse?" Santana asks the teacher, though she doesn't wait for him to confirm that she can leave before she's already standing with all of her stuff gathered.

Sam watches as she leaves hastily, letting the classroom door slam behind her. She's obviously just had a revelation, though he's not really sure what that revelation is. He can't help but think that he should maybe follow her because he doesn't really know her well enough to be a hundred percent sure that she's not about to commit homicide and, well, that would probably be bad, really bad. He sighs before raising his hand and asking to be excused too.

It would seem that the time to let the subject drop has passed.

xxxxxx

Sam can't find Santana. He checks everywhere, well except for the places he can't check like the girl's washroom and the teacher's lounge, but he checks almost everywhere. He finally gives up when the bell rings signalling the end of the period and also the end of the day. They have a glee club meeting this afternoon and so he decides to just head in that direction, maybe she'll turn up there.

As it turns out, she's already there. She's the only one in the room and she's sitting with her arms crossed, staring intently at the door. Frankly, he's more scared now then he was when she stormed out of class.

"Err…" he's not sure what to say and, when her glares intensifies, any attempt that he was about to make at conversation dies in his throat, leaving him just standing there awkwardly.

Mike and Tina enter the room shortly after that. "Uhh…what's going on?" Tina asks.

Santana doesn't even look away from the door and Sam just shrugs.

The awkwardness continues as Rachel, Mercedes and Kurt enter the room and try to strike up a conversation. Santana just continues to ignore them all, her focus still solely on the door.

Artie's the next to show up and he hasn't even made it the whole way through the door when Santana's already standing and bounding towards him. She puts her arms on his chair, halting his entry into the room, and leans her face in so that it's inches from his. "Did you think no one was going to notice what you're doing to her?"

The words come out even and barely above a whisper, yet the look on her face terrifies Artie. He tries to roll himself away from her but she just strengthens the hold she has on his wheelchair, for how small she is, she's surprisingly strong. "What exactly are you talking about?" He asks when he realizes that he's stuck.

"You're too smart to play dumb Artie, don't even." Santana's voice is still low, though some of her anger is beginning to slip out. "Did you think I was just going to let you hurt her?"

"Honestly, I have no clue what you're talking about," Artie puts his hands up as if this might help prove that he's telling the truth and also to try and get her to back out of his personal space a bit.

Santana seems unmoved by this action and she takes a menacing step forward pushing his chair backwards in the process.

"Santana, what are you doing? Maybe you want to let Artie go?" Rachel interrupts.

Santana turns and glares at the other girl. "Shut it man hands. This is between me and cripple mc-douchebag here."

"And what exactly is this?" Kurt asks, concerned about the direction that whatever is going on his headed.

"This is me knocking his teeth in and then rolling him down a flight of stairs," Santana responds deadly serious and Artie gulps.

Puck and Finn come into the room at that exact moment. Sam is already heading towards Santana with the clear intent of pulling her away from Artie before she can do any real damage but Puck gets to her first. It actually ends up taking both of them to pull her back though.

"Whoa there tiger," Puck chuckles a bit, not sure what he's walked in on.

"Let me go Puckerman," Santana growls, struggling against the grasp that he and Sam have on her arms. "I'm going to kill him."

"Umm…why?" Finn asks scratching his head wondering if he is the only one who has no clue what is going on.

"Violence is never the answer Santana," Rachel pipes up when the other girl seems to ignore Finn's question.

"Tell that to him," Santana snaps, glaring at Artie. "He's the one with a violence problem. He doesn't get to hit Brittany and get away with it. Sorry, no dice."

Now everyone turns to Artie, whose eyes have gone wide. "I would never hit her. Why would you say that?" He says quickly and he feels like it's come out more defensive than he intended it to because now everyone is looking at him accusatorily.

Sam is the first to speak, now that Santana's said it he realizes that it makes a lot of sense. He'd thought maybe one of the school bullies was picking on Brittany but this alternative seems a lot more logical. "Man, she's covered in bruises and you _are_ her boyfriend so you better start explaining. Hitting girls isn't cool."

"I don't hit girls!" Artie protests again, the volume of his voice rising. "I don't hit anyone!"

"Then where are the bruises coming from?" Kurt asks him sceptically. He's always liked Artie but he has to admit that he's not convinced that he isn't guilty. Brittany has been so evasive about where the bruises are coming from that it seems like a strong possibility that someone is hurting her.

"I don't know," Artie sighs. "I keep asking her but she won't say." To be honest, the thought that someone has been hurting her has crossed his mind too. He looks away from Kurt and over at Santana. "How do we know you're not the one hitting her? You spend more time with her than I do and it's pretty obvious you're the one with anger management issues."

Now everyone is looking at Santana, some of their gazes definitely veering towards accusatory. Santana struggles against Puck and Sam again, wanting to lunge at Artie, how dare he accuse her of something like that? "Quit trying to deflect Artie, I would never hurt Brittany and you know it."

"Do I?" Artie responds, the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense that Santana is the one hurting Brittany, why else wouldn't Brittany just say?

"You do seem to have a violent predisposition," Rachel speaks up. "And we all know that Brittany can be, well…challenging to be around sometimes."

Santana tries to lunge for Rachel then but Sam and Puck still have a firm grasp on her. "Watch it Berry. You talk like that about her again and I'll be knocking _your_ teeth in."

Rachel yelps a bit, moving to stand closer to Finn in case Santana does manage to break free.

"You're not really helping yourself here Santana." Puck whispers to her, he feels the need to protect her. He knows that Santana would never hurt Brittany but he also knows how she's coming across right now. Of course, if it isn't Santana than she's probably right and it's Artie hurting Brittany. Puck is pretty sure he's going to kill that boy himself when there aren't so many witnesses but for now he'll focus on making sure Santana doesn't kill him.

Quinn and Brittany enter then and the tension in the room is palpable. Quinn is the one to break the silence. "What exactly is going on in here? We could hear you shouting down the hall."

Brittany shifts nervously when she realizes that everyone is staring at her. She looks back and forth between the various glee club members trying to figure out what is going on.

Artie moves, starting to roll closer to her but he stops when out of the corner of his eye he sees Sam drop Santana's arm and start to step towards him. It bothers him that Sam actually thinks he would hurt Brittany at all, let alone in a group full of people, but he tries not to think about that, instead focusing on Brittany. He notices that her arms are covered in a bunch of fresh bruises and it makes his stomach clench, with a pointed glare in Santana's direction he speaks. "Brittany if someone is hitting you, you can tell us. No matter what they told you, it's not okay."

Brittany gives him a strange look, she's really confused. "No one is hitting me."

Santana watches Brittany as she shifts, she looks really nervous and it makes her heart hurt. "Brittany if Artie's hitting you, you can tell me. I'll protect you, I promise." She hadn't wanted to ask in front of Artie, figuring it would be harder for Brittany to answer with him here, but Artie wasn't really giving her many options and she wasn't one to beat around the bush.

"Artie isn't hitting me," Brittany responds quickly, even more confused now.

"So than it's Santana who's hitting you?" Finn asks, thinking he's got it figured out. If it's not Artie, than it has to be Santana right?

Brittany shakes her head and shifts again. She really doesn't understand what is going on. "Santana isn't hitting me."

"So then who's hitting you?" Sam asks, looking over at her quickly, though he's still keeping his eye on Artie. He's pretty sure it isn't Santana but he's still not convinced it isn't Artie.

Brittany's forehead scrunches up in confusion. "No one is hitting me?" Hadn't she already said that?

"Brittany," Kurt said gently. "I now it might be hard, especially since they're in the room right now," he looks back and forth between Artie and Santana not really knowing who to suspect more, "but you have to tell us so that we can make it stop okay."

"Make what stop?" Brittany is getting more and more confused. Why is everyone still looking at her like that?

"Hitting Britt," Kurt clarifies, still speaking softly. "If you tell us who's hitting you, we can make them stop."

"But no one's hitting me." Brittany answers him. Maybe she hadn't been speaking out loud before when she'd said that?

"You don't have to lie," Quinn tells her, taking her hand in her own. She's obviously missed most of the conversation but it seems clear by the way that everyone keeps looking back and forth between Artie, Santana and Brittany that they suspect that one of those two is hitting the blonde. It makes her angry to think that someone has been hurting Brittany but it would be a logical explanation for the bruises. Of course, if someone has been hitting her it's most likely not Santana, so Quinn can't help but glare at Artie.

"I'm not lying." Brittany answers, pulling her hand away from Quinn. The usual monotone in her voice is slowly dissipating, as frustration starts to seep through in her answers. "I know you're not supposed to lie ever, mom told me that. I don't lie." Why won't they just believe her, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to her. She's telling the truth, just like she's supposed to, why isn't it working?

Santana feels bad watching Brittany struggle, she glares at Artie once more for good measure before telling Puck to let her go. When he does she quickly steps towards Brittany, ignoring everyone else. "You're sure?"

"Yes," Brittany says, starting to chew on her lip. If even Santana won't listen to her than she has no clue what she's supposed to do.

"Okay," Santana says, she can't handle watching Brittany look so upset. "I believe you." It's not exactly true, she's still suspicious of Artie, but it will have to do for now. She takes Brittany's hand and is glad when Brittany doesn't pull away like she did with Quinn. She offers the other girl a small smile and is glad when it's returned.

Mr. Schue comes into the room then, oblivious to what has just happened and tries to get started on the meeting. He ends up letting then go early when it becomes clear that not one of them is concentrating on singing.

xxxxxx

In the subsequent days the tension in the glee club is at an all-time high, which is sort of unimaginable considering the past causes of tension. No one comes right out and specifically says anything about abuse to Brittany, Santana or Artie again but the not so subtle looks and frequent hushed whispering makes it clear that no one has actually dropped the subject.

Knowing that people suspect you of hitting someone you love is hard on both Santana and Artie and it doesn't go unnoticed by either of them that the glee club seems to be going to great lengths to make sure that neither of them is left alone with Brittany. However, Santana and Artie are also expending a great deal of energy being suspicious of each other, which, oddly enough, keeps them mostly distracted from the accusations of their peers.

Brittany on the other hand does not have the luxury of a distraction and, unfortunately, even she cannot remain oblivious to the way that everyone is always looking at her. What's worse is that without anyone expressly saying what they are thinking she spends most of her time extremely confused about what is going on. She thinks that maybe she's done something wrong but, no matter how hard she tries, she can't figure out exactly what it is or how to fix. She does wonder if maybe they're angry that she doesn't know where the bruises are coming from because people do seem to ask her that a lot. The thing is though that even if that is the problem she doesn't know how to fix it because she can't actually figure out where the bruises are coming from.

All in all, it really doesn't seem like things could be any worse. Of course, then everything gets worse.


	2. Part 2

Coach Sylvester is the first adult to ask. Brittany is wondering down the hallway on her way to English or maybe Geometry, she can't really remember, when Coach Sylvester snaps at her to get into her office.

"Sit Blondie." Sue points to the chair in front of the desk as she takes the seat behind it.

Brittany obediently takes the seat and waits for Coach Sylvester to speak.

"I need an explanation for the hideousness that is your arms and legs right now." Sue tells the cheerleader.

"Uhh…" Brittany looks down at her arms and tries to figure out what Coach Sylvester is asking her.

"Your skin is starting to be more blue than white. Soon people are going to start mistaking you for a blueberry or one of those unsavoury Sesame Street characters." Sue elaborates.

Brittany's eyes widen at the thought of being mistaken for Grover, who sort of terrifies her, but she doesn't say anything, not really sure if she's supposed to respond since there hasn't really been a question asked.

Sue watches Brittany for a minute but when the girl, who looks pretty scared, doesn't even try to say anything she speaks up again. "This is the point where you tell me where you got all those bruises from."

"Oh." Brittany nods finally understanding what Coach Sylvester has been trying to ask her.

When Brittany still doesn't make any move to explain where the bruises are from, Sue prompts her again. "Now B. Where did the bruises come from?"

Brittany just shrugs, she's sort of starting to get used to this question not that that means that she likes it. "I don't know."

"Not good enough." Sue shakes her head at the blonde. "I want an explanation."

Brittany chews on her lip then, worried about disappointing Coach Sylvester. Finally, she tells her. "I don't remember."

Sue watches the blonde for a long moment before she repeats incredulously. "You don't remember?"

Brittany just shakes her head. "Can I go now?" She asks.

"Yes you can go." Sue tells her, deciding that she has gotten all of the information she will be able to out of her. She'll just have to track down that cretin Will Schuester and see if he knows what's going on.

xxxxxx

Mr. Schue is the second adult to ask. He asks Brittany to stay after he dismisses the glee club one afternoon.

Will takes a seat beside her in the risers, his eyes lingering on the bruises on her arms a minute before he addresses her. "I was just wondering if everything is alright with you Brittany."

Brittany tilts her head to the side. "Umm…what do you mean everything?"

Will smiles gently at her, realizing that he should have known to be more specific with her. "You seem to have a lot of bruises lately and I'm just a bit concerned. Where are you getting them from?"

Brittany was worried that that was what he meant. She really is tired of hearing that question, maybe it would help if she wore a sign or something that said she didn't know. She'd have to ask Santana about that later.

"Brittany?" Will asks when the blonde doesn't answer him.

She looks at him vacantly for a minute and then she remembers that he had asked the question. "Oh right…I don't know where they're coming from." She pauses a second before deciding maybe people would stop asking questions if she just came up with an answer. "Maybe a magic curse or something?"

Will sighs running his hand through his hair. Her evasiveness has him even more concerned than he originally was. "Brittany…" he starts, trying to figure out how to phrase his next question appropriately. "You know that people aren't allowed to hit you right?"

She smiles brightly at him then, finally glad to have a question that she knows the right answer to. "Yes. Mom and dad taught me all about that and Santana told me too and Kurt and lots of other people."

"Okay," he nods, glad to hear her say that. Though, without an explanation for the bruises, he's still very concerned. "So you know that if someone is hitting you, you have to tell someone right?"

Brittany continues to smile at him. This is the second question in a row that she knows for sure she has the right answer to and she is very glad. "Yes I know that."

"Good, that's good." He runs his hand through his hair again. He watches her carefully for a minute before he asks her his next question. "Brittany is someone hitting you?"

Brittany frowns then, the conversation had been going so well, she thought that he understood. "No."

"You're sure?" He asks her unconvinced. Her bruises had appeared too suddenly and they were occurring too consistently for him to really come up with any other explanation and she seemed unwilling to give one.

"I'm sure." Brittany's frown deepens. Maybe she should ask Santana if she should make a sign that says she's not a liar too because lately it seems like no one believes anything she says.

"Nobody's hitting you but you don't know where the bruises are coming from?" He tries one more time.

"I just can't remember." She shrugs. "Can I go now?" She adds, offering him a hopeful smile, she's tired of this conversation.

He sighs and tries to return the smile before he nods and lets her leave. There's not much else he can do right now. He'll have to talk to Emma, maybe she'll have better luck getting Brittany to talk.

xxxxxx

Ms. Pillsbury talks to Brittany next. She knocks on the door to Brittany's Geometry class and, after a brief discussion with the teacher, she leads Brittany back to her office, asking the blonde to take a seat.

Brittany is pretty glad that she gets to leave math class, even if it means that she has to talk to the lady who doesn't like birds, because she really doesn't like math.

"So…" Emma starts. "How are you Brittany?'

Brittany smiles at her, this is definitely better than Geometry. "I'm good."

"That's good." Emma returns the smile, though she's not looking forward to the conversation that's coming. She looks down at the pamphlets that she'd pulled out earlier before picking them up and handing them to Brittany. "I wanted to give you these."

Brittany looks down at the foldy thingy's that Ms. Pillsbury hands her. She carefully reads the first title. _Help! My dad thinks I'm a punching bag_. She shuffles to the second one and carefully reads that title too. _Why does mom get so angry with me after drinking a box of wine?_

After several minutes Brittany looks up at Ms. Pillsbury, clearly confused.

"So what do you think?" Emma asks her.

Brittany's brow furrows in confusion. "Think about what?"

"About the pamphlets," Emma explains.

"You mean these foldy thingy's?" Brittany asks, holding up the pamphlets.

"Yes," Emma nods, "what do you think about those?"

"Well…" Brittany thinks a minute. "They have pretty pictures."

"That's it?" Emma frowns now. She was hoping that the pamphlets would incite Brittany to make a confession. "You don't have something you want to tell me? Maybe about all those bruises on your arms and legs?"

Brittany starts to tap her fingers against the chair. She shouldn't be surprised that Ms. Pillsbury is asking about the bruises, everyone seems to ask, but she still is. "No." She fidgets nervously a minute before she asks. "Can I go back to class now?" She basically understands nothing about Geometry but she's pretty sure she'll be a lot less confused there than she is here.

"Yes Brittany, you can go back to class now." Emma sighs, Brittany clearly isn't going to tell her anything. She knows what she has to do now, she picks up the phone and calls social services.

xxxxxx

The next adult to ask Brittany about the bruises is a complete stranger. It's a Wednesday night and Brittany's dancing around the table while she sets it when the doorbell rings.

"Brittany hun, you want to get that?" Mrs. Pierce asks her as she continues to stir the pot of soup on the stove.

Brittany nods, bouncing towards to front door. As she pulls open the door she finds a woman she's never met before on the other side. "Hello?" She says, the greeting coming out more like a question.

"Hi," the woman offers her a small smile. "Are you Brittany?"

Brittany's eyes get wide at the use of her name. This moment feels very stranger danger and she looks over her shoulder nervously, hoping her mom might emerge from the kitchen. "Umm…yes." She finally says.

"Are you parents here?" The woman asks her next.

Brittany nods quickly, still staring wide eyed at the woman, she's pretty sure she's not supposed to be talking to strangers.

When the blonde doesn't make a move to get her parents, the woman speaks up again. "Do you think I could talk to them?"

"Oh," Brittany nods. "Sure, just a minute." She turns around and yells. "Mom! Dad! Someone's at the door for you!"

Her mom emerges from the kitchen and her dad comes out of the den at nearly the same time. Her mom's shaking her head but she's smiling. "Inside voice Brittany," she admonishes.

Her dad just grins, winking at her. The grin fades pretty quickly when the woman at the door introduces herself.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce. My name is Carmen Vetrone and I'm from the Department of Children and Family Services." The woman tells them. "I'd like to talk to you."

Mr. Pierce nods, indicating for her to come in. "Brittany honey, why don't you go up to your room for a bit. Maybe call Santana or something, okay?"

Brittany frowns not sure what is going on. "But I was setting the table."

"It's okay," her mom says. "I'll finish for you."

"Okay." Brittany says, though it comes out uncertain. She heads for the stairs, looking back over her shoulder at the trio before climbing up and going into her room.

She doesn't call Santana. Instead she just lies on her bed and stares at her ceiling. She doesn't understand what is going on but her dad and mom both looked worried and she can't help but feel nervous. Her eyes eventually flutter shut. Everything that's been going on lately just seems so confusing and all of the time she's been spending trying to figure it out is exhausting. She's just so tired all of the time.

She doesn't really know for sure but she thinks she falls asleep because it seems like no time has passed at all before her mom is calling up the stairs for her to come down. When Brittany gets to the bottom of the stairs, the woman from the door is still there, standing with her parents.

"Brittany, Ms. Vetrone's going to talk to you now, okay?" Her mom tells her. "You can go with her into the living room or the kitchen, whichever you want."

Brittany shifts uncomfortably, "the living room, I guess."

They start to head towards the living room and when Brittany realizes that her parents aren't coming with them, she looks over her shoulder. "Aren't you coming?"

Her dad shakes his head. "No peanut, she'd like to talk to you alone, okay? We're going to be upstairs."

Brittany chews on her lip nervously but she nods. She supposes if her parents say it's okay than this doesn't really classify as a stranger danger situation.

Brittany and Ms. Vetrone settle into the living room, facing each other. Brittany just stares at the woman, waiting, though what she's waiting for she's not sure.

"Brittany I just want you to know that whatever you tell me is just between me and you. You don't have to worry about your parents finding out, so you don't have to worry about upsetting them, okay?" The woman tells her.

Brittany nods. "Umm…okay?" She wishes she knew what was going on.

The woman smiles at her, trying to ease the tension. "So do you like living here Brittany?"

Brittany smiles, "yes." Maybe this isn't going to be as scary as it seems.

"That's good," the woman smiles at her again. "So do you have to do chores and stuff?"

Brittany nods, some of her tension easing, she knows the answers to these questions, it isn't so bad. "Ya, I have to clean my room and set the table and help with dishes."

"And what happens if you don't do that stuff?" The woman asks her next.

Brittany shrugs. "I don't know." She thinks a minute before coming up with an answer. "Sometimes mom says if I don't clean my room, I won't get my allowance but dad always gives it to me anyway."

"Okay," the woman nods. "Does your mom ever get angry that your dad gives you your allowance even though he's not supposed to?"

Brittany shakes her head. "No, I don't think so. She just usually says that I have him wrapped around my little finger, which doesn't really make any sense because he wouldn't fit around any of my fingers but especially not my pinkie. Besides, my pinkie's just for Santana."

"Who's Santana?" The woman asks curious.

"My best friend," Brittany grins.

"I see," the woman smiles at her before getting serious again. "Do your parents ever yell at you?"

Brittany nods slowly. "Sometimes."

"Can you give me some examples?" The woman asks her.

"Well one time I climbed into the sewer after a kitty I was following. Dad said that that's really dangerous and I could have got hurt." Brittany thinks some more, wanting to get the answer to these questions right. "One time I forgot about looking both ways when you cross the street and a car almost hit me, mom was pretty mad but then she cried and said she was just scared and that I shouldn't ever do that again."

The woman watches her carefully for a long moment before asking her next question. "Okay and when your parents are mad do they ever do anything more than yell?"

Brittany looks at her curious. This is the first question that she doesn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when they're mad do your parents ever maybe ground you?" The woman offers as an example.

Brittany scrunches up her brow in confusion. "I don't know what that is. Do you mean like ground beef?"

"No, it just means they take away some of your privileges." When Brittany still appears confused, the woman shakes her head. "Don't worry about it, it's okay."

"Okay." Brittany nods, relaxing.

The woman finally asks the question she's been building up to. "Do your parents ever hit you Brittany?"

"No." Brittany shakes her head quickly. Why is it that every conversation she has lately leads to this, or some variation of this, question?

"Do you remember how I said your parents aren't going to find out about what you tell me and that you don't have to worry about upsetting them?" When Brittany nods, the woman continues. "So, you can tell me the truth, okay?"

Brittany sighs. Why does everyone think she's a liar? She's never even lied before, not once. "Nobody listens to me." She whispers.

"I'm listening to you now Brittany, you can tell me anything." The woman urges, misinterpreting what Brittany means.

"No, you're not listening to me." The frustration seeps through Brittany's voice. "My parents don't hit me. Artie doesn't hit me. Santana doesn't hit me. Nobody is hitting me!"

The woman sighs. "Okay, it's okay. You don't need to get upset," she tries to soothe. "Can I ask where you got the bruises on your arms and your legs from?"

It's Brittany's turn to sigh. "I don't know." Tears start to well in her eyes. "I try to remember, I really do. I'm sorry, okay, I'm sorry that I can't remember."

"Okay, it's okay," The woman soothes again. "I think I've got all the information I need for now. I just need to talk to your parents again for a minute. How about you wait here?"

Brittany wipes at the tears that are threatening to fall, sniffling she nods. "Okay." She draws her knees up to her chest and rests her head there as she watches the woman leave. She doesn't know how long she sits there but eventually she hears the front door close and shortly after that her parents come into the living room, taking a seat on either side of her.

"Oh Brit," her mom murmurs as she rubs circles on the blondes back.

"I thought you're supposed to tell the truth." Brittany whispers as she turns to look at her mom. The tears are mostly gone but her eyes are rimmed with confusion.

"You are sweetie, you are." Her mom soothes.

"But when I tell the truth, no one listens. I don't understand." Her eyes well up with tears again, she's just so frustrated.

Her dad immediately puts his arm around her shoulder pulling her close as her mom starts running her fingers through her hair. "I know honey, I know. It's going to be okay." He whispers.

"Do you believe me that I don't know where I got the bruises?" Brittany asks softly, almost afraid of the answer.

"Of course we believe you sweetie, of course we believe you." Her mom hurriedly answers, taking her daughter's hand in her own and squeezing it tightly.

Brittany smiles at that answer, feeling a bit better. She shifts closer into her father and closes her eyes, mumbling. "Thanks." It isn't long before her breathing evens out and she is fast asleep. Her parents don't dare move. Instead they sit there in silence for a long time, supper completely forgotten.


	3. Part 3

A/N: Just wanted to say thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate. Also, I realized after I posted that without seeing the prompt this whole thing seems much more mysterious than it's meant to be. Hopefully, the ending isn't too dissapointing.

Brittany is listless the whole next day. Santana, Quinn, Artie, Kurt, and most of the other glee club members try to get to her to tell them what is wrong at various points throughout the day but she just shrugs and refuses to answer. Truthfully, she doesn't really know what is wrong, she just can't seem to concentrate. The department of child and family services visit from last night keeps running on a continuous loop in her head and it's very distracting. She knows she's not the smartest person but she's not completely dumb, she knows that the lady from last night could take her away from her parents and that thought makes her want to climb into bed pull the covers over her head and sleep forever. She's passed trying to figure out how to make people believe that no one is hurting her or trying to convince them that she really doesn't know where the bruises are coming from, she just wants it all to go away.

The end of the day sort of sneaks up on her, she doesn't even really remember going to most of her classes. Regardless, she somehow finds herself standing at her locker with Santana staring at her.

"Brit, are you sure you're okay?" Santana asks her for the umpteenth time that day.

Brittany shrugs. "I'm fine Santana."

Santana sighs, closing her locker with a little more force than she probably needs to. "You don't seem fine. You've been completely out of it all day. What's going on?" Others might see Brittany's behaviour today as typical Brittany but Santana knows her better than that. Brittany might seem to live in her own world but Santana knows that she's really just watching this one with a perspective that most people don't get. Regardless of what some might think, the blonde is always present in this world, or at least she usually is, today Santana's pretty sure that Brittany's anywhere but here.

It's Brittany's turn to sigh. "I'm just sleepy San. Is it time to go home yet?"

Santana narrows her eyes at her, unconvinced. "We have glee club practice," she reminds the blonde.

"Oh right." Brittany sighs again. She really doesn't want to see everybody, hear the whispering, but she supposes she has to go. She closes her locker and leans her forehead against, wishing, for what feels like the hundredth time in the last few weeks, that she could just disappear.

Santana frowns as Brittany leans her head against her locker. She reaches for the blonde's pinkie and squeezes gently. "Come on, we're going to be late."

Brittany lets Santana lead her to the choir room. Sure enough they're the last ones to show up, even Mr. Schue is already there, but Brittany can't bring herself to really care. Practice passes in the same manner as the rest of Brittany's day, in a blur. At one point while they're practicing the choreography for their latest number Brittany walks right into Finn. Of course everyone, including Finn, assumes that he's the one who has messed the steps up, he's notoriously bad for that type of thing, and she's too tired to even correct them.

Brittany's glad when practice finally ends, she can't wait to get home but as they're leaving the room Santana stops her.

"Brit, you've got a bruise on your face." The brunette tells her.

"I don't know where I got it from!" Brittany practically yells, turning around to face Santana completely. She doesn't want to hear any more questions about bruises ever again. Why won't everyone just leave her alone already?

"No, that's not what I meant." Santana shakes her head and everyone is looking at them now. "You didn't have it before we started practice and now you do."

"Oh." Brittany looks confused, unsure of what that all means.

"So, wait, the bruise just appeared like magic or something?" Finn asks scratching his head, clearly just as confused as Brittany.

"Finn, bruises don't just happen." Rachel shakes her head at him. Honestly, sometimes she can't figure out where he gets his ideas from.

"You're sure she didn't have it before practice?" Artie asks.

Santana rolls her eyes. "Of course I'm sure." When Artie still seems sceptical, she adds. "B look at your iboyfriend/i a sec would ya?" Santana can't help the disdain in her voice at the use of the word boyfriend.

Brittany turns so that she's completely facing Artie and a slight gasp escapes his lip. They all certainly would have noticed a bruise that size if she'd walked into the choir room with it. Santana is definitely correct, she got that bruise sometime during practice.

Santana smirks at him. "You going to apologize now or what?"

"Uhh…sorry." Arties tells her, though he doesn't sound too apologetic. "So no one is actually hitting you?" He asks Brittany, almost as if he's in shock that this could be the case.

Brittany nods slowly, feeling like this might be a trick. "I said that before right?"

"Yes, yes did." Artie agrees. "So, Santana you going to apologize now or what?"

"For what?" Santana crosses her arms, narrowing her eyes at him

"Maybe for threatening to kill me?" Artie responds quickly.

Santana continues to stare at him with narrowed eyes for a minute before letting up a bit. "Don't be so dramatic wheels, I only threatened to roll you down the stairs…but fine, I'm sorry or whatever."

"Thanks." Artie nods at her. "I'm sorry I thought it was you too by the way."

The rest of the glee club quickly follows suit, apologizing to both Artie and Santana for thinking them capable of hurting Brittany.

When the apologies are through, Mr. Schue speaks up. "I think that we all owe Brittany an apology too." He turns to face the blonde, before continuing. "Brittany, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when you said that no one was hurting you."

"I didn't lie." Brittany says quietly, still unconvinced that what's going on is really happening. Is it too much to hope for that people are going to believe her now?

"No you didn't," Mr. Schue agrees.

"I'm sorry B, I should have listened." Quinn speaks up after Mr. Schue and everyone else is quick to reiterate the statement.

When everyone's apologized, Sam frowns, concentrating before speaking up. "Okay, so it's great and all that no one is actually hurting you Brittany," he starts, looking around the room at the various glee club members before continuing, "but am I the only one who still doesn't understand where the bruises are coming from?"

"Umm…no." Finn nods his head in agreement, glad that someone has brought that up because he's pretty confused about the whole thing.

"Well you did run into her during practice, so maybe it's your fault?" Mercedes tries as a way of explanation.

"But she didn't even fall down." Finn answers, still confused. Sure they had collided but at the time it didn't even seem to faze her.

"Maybe she bruises easily," Tina offers.

Rachel shakes her head. "Yes, but she didn't seem to bruise easily before, so that doesn't really make sense."

"Maybe you want to not talk about her like she's not here." Quinn snaps, interrupting the conversation. She's been watching Brittany this whole time and the blonde's shoulder just keep slumping further and further forward, her gaze fixed on the ground.

"Sorry." Comes a mumbled reply from the group, they really are sorry.

The room goes silent for a short period after that and it's Kurt who finally comes up with an explanation, or at least the start of one. "Britt when's the last time you saw a doctor?"

Brittany just shrugs, not really sure the answer to his question or why he's asking it. She looks around the room, hoping that maybe someone can help clear up her confusion.

As realization dawns on her, Santana reaches for Brittany's pinkie firmly grasping it with her own. She studies the blonde a minute before she looks back at Kurt. When she speaks her voice is a soft whisper and it's laced with worry, a tone that none of them are used to hearing. "You think she's sick?"

Silence envelops the room again. Any relief that they might have all felt at finding out that no one was actually hurting Brittany is quickly replaced with worry that something might be wrong with her. It's funny really, how easily the mood in a room can shift.

xxxxxx

Brittany doesn't really like going to see her doctor, his office always smells funny and she's pretty sure that he's a vampire, there's totally a book all about doctors being vampires or something so she's not just making that up. She tells her mom that she doesn't want to go but her mom takes her anyway and it's even worse than she thought it was going to be. She gets asked a bunch a questions about the bruises, she knew that the questions being over was too good to be true, and then she has to have blood taken, which she's pretty sure confirms her suspicions about the vampire thing. The worst part is that the doctor says she's going to have to come back. She asks if they can meet somewhere that isn't his smelly office, preferably outdoors, to which her mom gives her the look and he says that regrettably they cannot, she suspects his refusal is because he doesn't want her to see him sparkle in the sunlight.

Brittany doesn't really know what the big deal is but when she tells the glee club that she's waiting for test results, they seem really worried, a lot more worried than when she told them her doctor is a vampire. Santana takes her hand and holds it so tight that Brittany has to tell her she's hurting her, Artie takes her other hand but he doesn't hold it quite as tightly, Mercedes says she's going to pray for her, to which Brittany says thanks because she is kind of sleepy and could use a nap, and Rachel goes on and on about something, Brittany's not really sure what though, paying attention is hard.

Her mom and her dad both take her to her next doctor's appointment. This one isn't quite so bad because she gets to sleep in and miss school and it's mostly just a lot of boring talking. She's especially glad that her doctor doesn't take any more blood, maybe she's mistaken about the vampire thing. There is a needle at the end but it doesn't hurt too much and the lollypop she gets makes up for it.

Her parents bring her to school just as lunch is starting. Upon spotting her, Kurt quickly rounds up the rest of the glee club and they convene in the choir room, all clearly more intent on finding out what is going on with her than with eating lunch.

They stand around somewhat awkwardly before Mike finally asks the question on everyone's mind. "So what did the doctor say?"

"I have some car disease," Brittany tells them all.

Everyone is pretty confused but Kurt eventually figures out what he thinks she means. "An autoimmune disease?" He tries.

"Yes." Brittany nods vigorously. "That."

There are lots of autoimmune diseases, so that doesn't really clear anything up. "Did he say anything else?" Kurt tries to prompt her.

Brittany smiles at him, nodding. "My goblin is low." Seeing the funny looks that she's getting she adds. "I told the doctor that I don't have a short goblin but he said that it's something that's in your blood not a scary pet."

Quinn is the one who figures out what she actually means this time. "You mean your haemoglobin?"

Brittany grins at her. "That's what I said right?"

Quinn just grins back. "Close enough B, close enough."

"Umm…" Sam looks around to see if anyway else is confused. "What is that anyway?"

"It's part of red blood cells. It carries oxygen to your body's tissues." Santana explains when Quinn doesn't immediately speak. "What?" She shrugs, crossing her arms. "My dad's a doctor, sometimes I listen when he talks or whatever." She glares at them all, as if daring them to say something.

"Okay, so how come your goblin thingy is low?" Finn asks still not sure he understands what is wrong with her.

"I have a Harry Potter's friend's brother thingy," Brittany tells him.

"You have a what?" Artie asks. It's pretty clear that none of them are going to be able to decipher what she means this time.

"Oh right, I forgot that he's got cleaning stuff with his name too." Brittany adds, as if that clears everything up, which, of course, it does not.

Santana watches Brittany carefully, she's the most fluent in Brittany-ese and even she's stumped. "Britt what's Harry Potter's friend's brother's name?" She finally asks, figuring that with the right questions she might be able to coax the answer out of her.

Brittany grins at her. "It's Percy. Doesn't everyone know that?"

"Umm…no." Santana raises an eyebrow but she can't help but smile back at Brittany. "Okay and do you know what kind of cleaning stuff he's got?"

"Umm…" Brittany scrunches up her brow and concentrates a minute. "A..am…ammonia!" She grins when she gets it.

"Okay," Santana nods, putting the two words together. "So you have Percy Ammonia?"

Brittany nods enthusiastically, while everyone just seems more confused. Percy Ammonia doesn't sound like anything any of them have ever heard of before.

Santana thinks a minute. She has no clue what Percy might be a placeholder for but, considering the haemoglobin thing, it sort of sounds like the second word could actually be anemia. Yes, that sounds like it might be right. "Brittany do you think that ammonia might actually be anemia?"

Brittany's brow creases in concentration a minute before she nods slowly. "Ya, that sounds right. You're so smart San."

Santana just shrugs. "Okay so you have Percy Anemia?"

"I'm pretty sure that's not a real thing." Rachel speaks up.

Brittany frowns and at that Santana growls at Rachel. "Shut it Berry." Sure, Percy is most likely the wrong word but does that really matter?

Sensing the possibility of a much bigger fight, Quinn steps in. "So Britt, did the doctor say how you got the anemia?"

"He said I can't suck up B12, which doesn't make any sense because we do those shots all of the time and I suck them up just fine." Brittany responds, turning to Santana for confirmation, she adds. "Right, San?"

"I think the shot you're thinking of is a B52," Santana corrects gently. "B12 is a vitamin."

"Oh okay, well my body doesn't know how to suck that up and so you just have to like touch me and presto I get bruises, it's like magic." Brittany explains. "Oh and it makes me tired and foggy and stuff too."

Brittany's explanation of what's wrong with her might be a little off beat but they're all starting to finally get the just of what's going on. Someone, most likely Santana, will have to talk to Brittany's parents later and get the actually details, at which point they'll figure out that what Brittany actually has is Pernicious Anemia, an inability to absorb B12, a vitamin that is necessary for the normal production of red blood cells. They'll learn that Brittany's actually had the autoimmune disease causing the anemia undiagnosed for a long time but that the anemia has only recently progressed to the severe state which is causing the easy bruising. They'll also learn that the decreased oxygen carrying capacity of her blood has likely, over the years, resulted in mild cognitive impairment. However, right now none of these details are important, what is truly important is knowing whether or not she's going to be okay.

"How do they fix it?" Tina asks.

"Needles, lots of needles," Brittany grimaces, "and lots of visits to smelly doctor's offices."

"So you get shots and then you're going to be better?" Sam asks, hoping that this is the case.

Brittany nods. "I have to get them forever, which is a really long time, but I'll be okay."

"So you're not going to die or anything right?" Puck speaks up, shuffling a bit where he's standing.

Brittany's eyes get wide and she shakes her head. "No way."

"Good, that's good." Puck grins, sliding his hands in his pocket and trying to be nonchalant about how ecstatic he is at this news.

"Definitely good…no, scratch that, great," Kurt says, pausing a beat before adding more quietly, "and Britt, I really am sorry about not believing you before."

Brittany watches him a minute before she nods slowly. "It's okay."

"It really isn't," Quinn steps in, "but we really are all sorry. We should have listened to you and then maybe we could have gotten you to a doctor sooner. What if you had been dying? God, I can't even…" she trails off unable to finish that thought.

Everyone else mumbles similar sentiments in agreement but Brittany just shrugs. Sure it had been hard, harder than any test she had ever taken, when she had to answer over and over again questions about where the bruises were coming from. Sure it had hurt when no one was listening to her and when everyone thought she was a liar but holding a grudge wasn't really her style. These were still her friends. She still loved them and they still loved her.


End file.
